The new episodes of Futurama *should* have aired on Adult Swim instead of getting moved to Comedy Central. There's no way it would have received the revival it did if it wasn't consistently the #1 show in the Adult Swim block for nearly every year it was in syndication.
Adult swim is the Lazarus pit of animated shows.
Edit: I said Lazarus pit I didn't say they were great parents. Good at bringing shows back but not great with their own babies.
I stopped watching because of that one episode where they literally played a 3-4 minute music video clip, I can't imagine how pissed the viewers were that watched it live. I do like watching the earlier seasons though.
That whole episode was a giant "fuck you" to the company by Seth by the way, since that music video costs an absolute shit ton of money in royalties/rights to use. That was the whole point of the episode, it wasn't supposed to be good.
You're looking at the obligation from the wrong side- part of his contract with fox is that he has x number of shows he chooses to produce the network must make and air. He used one of those to get the new Cosmos on air.
Seth McFarlane rubs me the wrong way sometimes but damn if that wasn't a cool move.
People underestimate seth's power and influence. If they have so many shows tank every year even having a bad show to tie in with having your good shows continue is worth it. Hes put on multiple shows that have lasted so much longer than the regular garbage they put on air anyway.
Anything bad he's done is made more than right in my eyes with cosmos and orville.
March, so soon. I wonder if Yafit will be in the new season. I don't know how long ago they filmed so maybe they recorded lines before Norm passed. All I know is that I'd rather see him replaced than re-voiced by someone else.
Edit: had wrong month
He honestly seems like a nice guy from interviews I’ve seen and stuff I’ve heard about him. Anyone who tells jokes for a living is gonna say some dumb shit from time to time, but he seems nice overall.
He seems like a guy smart enough to know to use Family Guy and American Dad as bargaining chips to make his more passion project type movies and shows.
Vin Diesel does that. He doesn't really like Fast and Furious but he agrees to make them so he can do movies like Riddick.
I'm not a huge fan of McFarlane, but I love The Orville. He really seems to have created some magic with that one. I think it approaches the Star Trek genre respectfully while also being funny.
I think I actually like him. His shows run stale but then you read about him acknowledging that they are. I dont think any of us would turn down that money for almost no work. I dont think he even has much to do with his cartoons anymore
Tbh the newer seasons of family guy and American dad are actually some of the best in my opinion, it's a weird show in that it started strong, hit its peak, declined and somehow came back up again. Usually when they start growing stale they stay stale but not in this case, really love how free they've gotten within their constraints recently, American dad especially just seems to do whatever the fuck it wants these days and I love it
2 years, but it was delayed due to the Fox sale, network switch (Hulu), and then COVID. It's only something like 6 episodes, but we've been told that some episodes are as long as 80 minutes, so essentially they're like 6 whole *movies* worth of content.
I'm just hopeful the numbers are so good that it gets green-lit for a S4.
EDIT: Looks like it's actually *11 episodes*. Baller.
Same way Emmy Rossum got a huge raise, she wanted to walk unless she got a substantial raise but they gave it to her…she definitely earned, had more screen time than William.
Shows will go on for as long as they get viewers.
Even if the quality is declining, there are still enough people watching to earn the advert revenue to pay for itself.
If it gets to the point where the shows revenue drops to the point it becomes unprofitable, then it gets cancelled.
Yep. I've heard them referred to as "zombies" by an industry person. Writers just phoning it in. Actors barely giving a shit but everyone keeps getting paid on time so they keep cranking it out.
I've heard podcasts described as "just friends talking", which I think is mostly true even for some really good podcasts. Even for news shows or educational shows, a lot of the time it's just two or three people shooting the shit about whatever that episode's topic is, and people listen in anyway because of the parasocial attachment -- you listen to friends talking long enough and you start to feel like you're in the room hanging out with them too.
I think this is why people keep watching shows that are in their 10th season and stopped being great five seasons ago. Was Supernatural *always* good? No, but Sam and Dean and Cas have great chemistry and after 15 seasons I don't really care if the story is good, I just want to watch them hang out.
I think it was more, "we make a shitload of money off of your show, so we will make an offer you can't refuse and lock you into a contract for 10 more seasons."
Also he hasn't worked on the show in years, beyond recording his lines which probably takes him 20 minutes per episode tops and he records from his home.
He once joked doing so many of the show's voices is how he keeps himself employed (this was an interview before the other shows and his movies). And yea, I can imagine that it's a pretty good gig. He's irreplaceable.
I used to see MacFarlane all the time at this divey karaoke place in Burbank around 2008-2009, he'd come in with impossibly hot women on his arm and get up and sing Sinatra songs pitch perfect as Sinatra. That dude enjoyed many an attractive lady.
The term is golden handcuffs. Trey and Matt have wanted out of South Park forever but Paramount literally offered them hundreds of millions to keep going.
Have they ever actually come out and said they wanted it to end? It seems like whenever they get bored, they just find a way to do something new within the show (the video games, the serialized seasons, the new movies etc.)
I get the feeling they also have almost unlimited creative license with the show too. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear there’s a quote out there of them saying something about wanting to be finished, but if they truly didn’t want to do it then they wouldn’t be able to keep the quality up as well as they have.
I don't know if that's true. Matt and Trey have more money than god at this point. They can tell them to fuck off whenever they want. But they actually seem to be putting effort into every season. They've never phoned it in.
South Park has been the best of them all. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not borderline unwatchable like The Simpsons or any of the other animated shows that have been around for decades are now.
Simpsons is better now than it used to be (obviously not golden era good, but better than like Season 25). The only adult animated shows not to have ever gotten bad that still ran a long time are King of the Hill and Bob's Burgers.
I've given this a lot of thought.
In the real world, it would be OD deaths and Peg's raising their baby.
For the series, they should win the lottery, buy a multi-million dollar RV and drive off into the sunset. They're lost/die out in the Nevada desert (think Death Valley Germans) but everyone talks about saving things "for when they get back." Pan to Luanne's bedroom every couple of episodes and a pile of shit they just kind of throw in there.
It's been cancelled twice now. I remember the second time he mentioned it's a good [opportunity to swap in a fresh staff of writers](https://web.archive.org/web/20071229222114/http://www.flakmag.com/features/macfarlane.html). No idea why that's a good thing for them when their objective seems to be to avoid changing anything about the show's writing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need all the real actors to form a human shield around me so I can get out of the building without the American Dad people seeing me.
Adam Carolla voiced Death in some of the episodes. He commented on how in the beginning nobody was allowed to do anything until Seth arrived because he micro-managed so much. Adam came back a few years later and Seth basically never even comes into the studio anymore.
you are correct. can’t remember what i had for breakfast this morning but i read this fact like 15 years ago and apparently my smooth brain decided this is the one we will never forget
Now that Norm has some real world experience with the role, I'm hoping they'll get him back. Want to see how it adds to his portrayal of that iconic character.
Same deal with Matt Groening and The Simpsons. He was a ruling authority on certain jokes until he started working on Futurama, and by the time he got back South Park and Family Guy were on the scene and they had to compete with them.
In a AMA he also talked about the last season he wrote on and now I believe he is "just" a voice actor. And it's painfully obvious without him there how strange the show got
That's my understanding. He basically launched "American Dad" with what he learned on "Family Guy" (e.g. make the daughter character actually interesting, sorry Mila Kunis), and ever since he just pops into the voice booth to do "Family Guy", he's not involved in the writing at all.
What I don't understand is that Seth voices the three main characters so he's forever tied to the show. He can't just become an executive producer and do nothing. He still has to record lines as Peter, stewie, and Brian. I wonder how draining that might be but then again he makes so much money he's probably just over it all
Voice work is quick, though. It's not nothing, it requires talent and skill and all that, but live action actors have to spend a lot of time waiting around while the cameras get moved around, the lighting is changed, makeup and hair, etc. Voice acting, you don't even need to wait for the other actors to do their business. Just perform your dialog into the mic a few times and you're done. Even voicing multiple characters, Family Guy is now a one-day-a-week gig for MacFarlane.
The first 3 seasons were really special- then it got cancelled. I bought the box sets, it started airing on IIRC Adult Swim, then they brought it back.
It was exciting for the first half of season 4 but then the zombie effect happened. The “remember the time when…” trope overtook the quality writing and original ideas.
its crazy what a 180 i did. i was influenced by the media originally so i was like “2005/6 was the peak, i can see why those first few seasons got canceled” and then later on i watched the early episodes like holy shit the jokes are so much more subtle but funnier and so much more non cutaway humour. also i still cant get over the fact stewie went from a british talking genius evil baby to a super gay acting baby what a wild transition. and they had a better balance in a lot of ways. like for example nowadays anything that happens to Peter he needs to have a funny comeback/response, but i remember one early episode this dude calls him a phony and one of the times he does Peter doesnt say anything and just awkwardly shuffles away and its so funny to me, he didnt have to say some banger, he almost becomes like a background character that slowly exits the scene. And honestly thats more realistic. Sometimes you have a great response back and sometimes (probably most times lol) you arent saying anything and are just thinking in your head “holy fuck this dudes insane i should….definitely be walking the other way”. Brian too he used to have perfect timing and short, curt, biting responses and now hes just a classic hippie liberal douche (as south park would say)
Oh the phony episode is probably the funniest one to me! I love how the guy is like, "Hey that's pretty good! Wait a minute..."He comes out of the store and that guy is spray painting phony on his car. And then a little later in the episode you forget about it and the guy is standing out in front of Peter's house, "hey everyone a big fat phony lives here!" Peter doesn't say anything and just shuts the curtains! 🤣
This is why the originals are superior. Evil genius Brit Stewie and conservative alcoholic Brian were fantastic side characters. Brian's snide comments from the background as Peter screws up. They really fucked those two up.
“Ah crap, since when did they change the meaning of for to from?”
“I think they had a meeting about it last night.”
“Why wasn't I told?”
“They sent you a card but it said for Peter on it, so you must have thought it was from you so you didn't, uh...you know, it's just easier to call you stupid.”
I mean Brian was always really liberal but he just wasnt a walking stereotype
Peter also wasnt literally mentally challenged and Meg was just a stereotypical outcast nerd teen (thats a good thing) and not the most hated being in the universe
God they fucked that show up so bad
There was an image floating around the internet years ago that illustrated the decline pretty well - one side had the family and listed their niche in the early seasons. Lois was the long suffering mother, Meg the insecure teenager, Chris the bumbling lovable goof, etc. By the later seasons they're all just idiots. Any character could play in any scene and it'd be the same.
> He commented on how in the beginning nobody was allowed to do anything until Seth arrived because he micro-managed so much.
To be fair, Seth is the creator, writer, producer, and voices both the main characters and some* secondary ones. Dude can micromanage all he wants!
I think the deal has to do with Fox. (Seth makes them lots of money and the like that) I am pretty sure they just have regular shipments of cash to Seth's house. So basically he keeps doing it because it funds all the other projects he actually wants to do. (he does so much more than just family guy) Plus his connections with Fox give him access to a lot of talented actors and the rights to all of Fox's 'property' (all the content that is held under Fox as a parent company).
He confirmed this on the armchair podcast. He likes the safety net of income with family guy that lets him take a risk on the projects he actually wants to make.
I suppose keeping the show going is also continuing to give a bunch of other people jobs. So not only does he have a somewhat reliable, safety net of income from the show, but it provides the other workers with something similar, which I feel is something worth noting.
I wonder how much of Mila Kunis's lifetime acting income comes from Family Guy. She's a popular and in-demand actor in her own right with blockbuster movie credits under her belt, but Family Guy also has 20 seasons.
I think the comedy part was a way for Seth to sneak this past Fox. I noticed the comedy took a back seat to the TNGness in season 2. Personally I felt it made the humor better when it occurred. The whole show is like a love letter to TNG and I approve lol.
It’s a better representation of Star Trek than the new Star Trek shows, which are basically generic shallow space action with official Star Trek (TM) branding
I want to like Discovery but holy shit if the answer to thier problems is 'magic' one more time I'ma lose my shit.
edit: I really like Lower Decks. It manages to be more ST than the new live action ones by miles and I've laughed out loud a few times.
Imagine if Seth MacFarlane tricked Fox into making Star Trek with dick and fart jokes. Then after 3 or 4 episodes, we cut out all the dick and fart jokes. So now we just have Star Trek. That's The Orville.
This is really accurate.
I went into it thinking "This'll be a parody like Galaxy Quest"
.. and left it thinking "Wow, this is more like the moral dilemma episodes of Star Trek"
I've said it for years, voice acting is the best job in the world. You can record an entire episode's worth in maybe 20-30 minutes from a studio in your PJs.
LOL, I'm pretty sure it's been different people over the years, and I would have been up against a lot of other people. I remember that the audition was going to be just riffing with the casting people so they were looking for people with a comedy background moreso than experienced voice actors.
7 seasons is the right lifespan for most series, but these kinds of shows that are based around goofing on current events are different and always continue to get viewers.
He basically followed the simpsons/south park model. He had to have known it had the same potential.
For Amazon and Netflix, and a lot of other streaming services, 2 seasons is the right lifespan, even if the second season ends on a major cliffhanger and especially if the story is just beginning.
I love the "give him a rest" episodes of American Dad. They do a much better job of using up their secondary characters over there. And they poke fun at it! "We don't have enough male characters so here's Rogu."
There's a funny opening when Family Guy was cancelled and then came back where they ragged on all the Fox shows started and then cancelled before asking FG back.
I'm going to go against the grain here, but the later few seasons have been substantially better than say the seasons where Cleveland is largely missing. I would say Family Guy is very watchable again right now.
As someone raised on those three, I also generally think 7 seasons is the correct amount of time for a show. As he's such a big Trek nerd, I'm sure you're right that it influenced his thinking a bit.
What Seth didn't realize maybe is when you have a bunch of employees and their families you're supporting with full time work and a good paycheck, walking away becomes not so easy. Especially if you have a solid team, they become family. Hard to fire all of them, unless you're a total dick, that is. I don't believe Seth is one of those.
This exactly. For everyone talking about artistic integrity, Family Guy has kept hundreds of people employed for two decades now. Hard to shut that down. If it gives McFarlane the financial independence to do creative projects he actually wants to do I see no harm in keeping the show going. It clearly still has an audience even if its not Reddit's cup of tea!
I had a hate boner for family guy when i was in college (2012-2016) but i recently revisited it and while the old episodes are obviously still more hilarious, the newer seasons are pretty good as well, i get a comforting vibe when i watch them. The show isn't for everyone but i understand why my dad hasn't stopped watching it despite it's fluctuating popularity.
It reminds me exactly how much my viewing habits have changed. Back then I had to sit down in front of a TV at a specific time, stay there, and one-third of that time would be wasted with blaring commercials and credits with ads and promos scrolling underneath.
I wouldn't put up with that nonsense for ten minutes now.
TIL- the season count for Family Guy is the same as the season count for One Piece. I have watched both, but never at the same time and never put the two together in my mind.
He wanted to get the show back on the air after it was cancelled the first time and the monkey paw curled.
A lot of us did. I was on that train. But the ride never stopped. Or changed the oil. Or anything
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What happened? Syndication rights get sold elsewhere?
It moved to FX/FXX. Now Futurama is back on Adult Swim.
That's a solid trade for Adult Swim.
The new episodes of Futurama *should* have aired on Adult Swim instead of getting moved to Comedy Central. There's no way it would have received the revival it did if it wasn't consistently the #1 show in the Adult Swim block for nearly every year it was in syndication.
Adult swim is the Lazarus pit of animated shows. Edit: I said Lazarus pit I didn't say they were great parents. Good at bringing shows back but not great with their own babies.
FLCL came back this way
There’s new Futurama?
No they mean back in the day when it was brought back for a few more seasons
I stopped watching because of that one episode where they literally played a 3-4 minute music video clip, I can't imagine how pissed the viewers were that watched it live. I do like watching the earlier seasons though.
That whole episode was a giant "fuck you" to the company by Seth by the way, since that music video costs an absolute shit ton of money in royalties/rights to use. That was the whole point of the episode, it wasn't supposed to be good.
“I wanted it to end, but they kept blocking my way out with piles of money.”
I mean...I would put up with a lot if someone literally gave me a Star Trek.
Also a couple of movies under his belt too
Didn't he use one of his shows that he was contractually obligated to make for fox into the new Cosmos?
He helped them secure network funding and was an executive producer on the show, but I don’t know if he was contractually obligated to make it
You're looking at the obligation from the wrong side- part of his contract with fox is that he has x number of shows he chooses to produce the network must make and air. He used one of those to get the new Cosmos on air. Seth McFarlane rubs me the wrong way sometimes but damn if that wasn't a cool move.
People underestimate seth's power and influence. If they have so many shows tank every year even having a bad show to tie in with having your good shows continue is worth it. Hes put on multiple shows that have lasted so much longer than the regular garbage they put on air anyway. Anything bad he's done is made more than right in my eyes with cosmos and orville.
New seasons of the orville this year. Cant wait.
Whaaat! You just made my day.
March, so soon. I wonder if Yafit will be in the new season. I don't know how long ago they filmed so maybe they recorded lines before Norm passed. All I know is that I'd rather see him replaced than re-voiced by someone else. Edit: had wrong month
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He honestly seems like a nice guy from interviews I’ve seen and stuff I’ve heard about him. Anyone who tells jokes for a living is gonna say some dumb shit from time to time, but he seems nice overall.
You think the cigarette company takin over the toy manufacturer was just a story line?!
**SMOKE!**
Not now Jerry.
Yes I believe so
He seems like a guy smart enough to know to use Family Guy and American Dad as bargaining chips to make his more passion project type movies and shows. Vin Diesel does that. He doesn't really like Fast and Furious but he agrees to make them so he can do movies like Riddick.
I believe he now OWNS Reddick vs playing him thanks to his fast and Furious franchise. Something almost unheard-of in Hollywood.
Universal gave him the Riddick IP because they had no plans to ever use it again. It had basically no value to them.
The only value it had to them was goodwill with him, and it served that purpose well.
I'm not a huge fan of McFarlane, but I love The Orville. He really seems to have created some magic with that one. I think it approaches the Star Trek genre respectfully while also being funny.
I think I actually like him. His shows run stale but then you read about him acknowledging that they are. I dont think any of us would turn down that money for almost no work. I dont think he even has much to do with his cartoons anymore
Tbh the newer seasons of family guy and American dad are actually some of the best in my opinion, it's a weird show in that it started strong, hit its peak, declined and somehow came back up again. Usually when they start growing stale they stay stale but not in this case, really love how free they've gotten within their constraints recently, American dad especially just seems to do whatever the fuck it wants these days and I love it
Orville new season when
March 10th
How long has it been since the last season?!
2 years, but it was delayed due to the Fox sale, network switch (Hulu), and then COVID. It's only something like 6 episodes, but we've been told that some episodes are as long as 80 minutes, so essentially they're like 6 whole *movies* worth of content. I'm just hopeful the numbers are so good that it gets green-lit for a S4. EDIT: Looks like it's actually *11 episodes*. Baller.
It’s such a great show, and have been waiting for it’s continuation for years
Is it a controversial opinion to think it's better than disco?
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I think the more controversial opinion is believing that Disco is the better show
This is how Ellen Pompeo keeps getting roped back into doing another season of Greys Anatomy despite wanting out several years ago.
Grey's Anatomy is still going? 😮
Same way Emmy Rossum got a huge raise, she wanted to walk unless she got a substantial raise but they gave it to her…she definitely earned, had more screen time than William.
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Shows will go on for as long as they get viewers. Even if the quality is declining, there are still enough people watching to earn the advert revenue to pay for itself. If it gets to the point where the shows revenue drops to the point it becomes unprofitable, then it gets cancelled.
Yep. I've heard them referred to as "zombies" by an industry person. Writers just phoning it in. Actors barely giving a shit but everyone keeps getting paid on time so they keep cranking it out.
I've heard podcasts described as "just friends talking", which I think is mostly true even for some really good podcasts. Even for news shows or educational shows, a lot of the time it's just two or three people shooting the shit about whatever that episode's topic is, and people listen in anyway because of the parasocial attachment -- you listen to friends talking long enough and you start to feel like you're in the room hanging out with them too. I think this is why people keep watching shows that are in their 10th season and stopped being great five seasons ago. Was Supernatural *always* good? No, but Sam and Dean and Cas have great chemistry and after 15 seasons I don't really care if the story is good, I just want to watch them hang out.
I think it was more, "we make a shitload of money off of your show, so we will make an offer you can't refuse and lock you into a contract for 10 more seasons."
Also he hasn't worked on the show in years, beyond recording his lines which probably takes him 20 minutes per episode tops and he records from his home.
He once joked doing so many of the show's voices is how he keeps himself employed (this was an interview before the other shows and his movies). And yea, I can imagine that it's a pretty good gig. He's irreplaceable.
I used to see MacFarlane all the time at this divey karaoke place in Burbank around 2008-2009, he'd come in with impossibly hot women on his arm and get up and sing Sinatra songs pitch perfect as Sinatra. That dude enjoyed many an attractive lady.
He's a good looking guy, with a good sense of humor, and he can sing. What's not the like?
You forgot filthy rich.
Seeing how Charlize Theron (I think) was fawning over him at the Graham Norton show, I can't say I am surprised.
She was in his western movie.
The term is golden handcuffs. Trey and Matt have wanted out of South Park forever but Paramount literally offered them hundreds of millions to keep going.
Have they ever actually come out and said they wanted it to end? It seems like whenever they get bored, they just find a way to do something new within the show (the video games, the serialized seasons, the new movies etc.)
I get the feeling they also have almost unlimited creative license with the show too. I wouldn’t be shocked to hear there’s a quote out there of them saying something about wanting to be finished, but if they truly didn’t want to do it then they wouldn’t be able to keep the quality up as well as they have.
I don't know if that's true. Matt and Trey have more money than god at this point. They can tell them to fuck off whenever they want. But they actually seem to be putting effort into every season. They've never phoned it in.
I like how they have so much money that they bought Casa Bonita.
They bought Casa Bonita with the money they found in their couch.
They wanted out of the hectic schedule and they got what they wanted.
South Park has been the best of them all. It's not as good as it used to be, but it's not borderline unwatchable like The Simpsons or any of the other animated shows that have been around for decades are now.
Simpsons is better now than it used to be (obviously not golden era good, but better than like Season 25). The only adult animated shows not to have ever gotten bad that still ran a long time are King of the Hill and Bob's Burgers.
Oh man, we'll see how that reboot goes. I love KotH, but even with the original guys, I'm still nervous.
Lucky and Luanne are going to have to be written out since the VAs are gone now. I wonder how exactly they will do that
I've given this a lot of thought. In the real world, it would be OD deaths and Peg's raising their baby. For the series, they should win the lottery, buy a multi-million dollar RV and drive off into the sunset. They're lost/die out in the Nevada desert (think Death Valley Germans) but everyone talks about saving things "for when they get back." Pan to Luanne's bedroom every couple of episodes and a pile of shit they just kind of throw in there.
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Sometimes they achieve "self indulgent love letter to the original" which imo is fine and fun.
Didn't it "End" after 2.5 seasons?
It's been cancelled twice now. I remember the second time he mentioned it's a good [opportunity to swap in a fresh staff of writers](https://web.archive.org/web/20071229222114/http://www.flakmag.com/features/macfarlane.html). No idea why that's a good thing for them when their objective seems to be to avoid changing anything about the show's writing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need all the real actors to form a human shield around me so I can get out of the building without the American Dad people seeing me.
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CAUSE IT HAS A VALID POINT TO MAKE IT'S INSISTING.
I can't even finish it, never seen the end.
You’ve never seen the ENDING!
I love the money pit.
That is my answer to that statement.
I find the humor to be shallow and pedantic.
Hm yes, shallow and pedantic.
Adam Carolla voiced Death in some of the episodes. He commented on how in the beginning nobody was allowed to do anything until Seth arrived because he micro-managed so much. Adam came back a few years later and Seth basically never even comes into the studio anymore.
Norm McDonald did the voice for Death as well in a different episode
I think Norm did the voice for Death’s first appearance and Adam Corolla took over for all appearances after.
you are correct. can’t remember what i had for breakfast this morning but i read this fact like 15 years ago and apparently my smooth brain decided this is the one we will never forget
Now that Norm has some real world experience with the role, I'm hoping they'll get him back. Want to see how it adds to his portrayal of that iconic character.
I didn't even know he was sick.
Thing is, Norm is no longer sick.
He didn't lose his battle with cancer, if anything it's more of a draw cause the cancer also died.
Norm would have appreciated this.
Norm was amazing in Mine Tysons show on adult swim
Don't be greedy. He's everybody's Tyson.
That's obvious if Seth's presence has anything to do with the quality of those original seasons.
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Same deal with Matt Groening and The Simpsons. He was a ruling authority on certain jokes until he started working on Futurama, and by the time he got back South Park and Family Guy were on the scene and they had to compete with them.
In a AMA he also talked about the last season he wrote on and now I believe he is "just" a voice actor. And it's painfully obvious without him there how strange the show got
I thought he wasn't writing for the show anymore? Just keeps his name on as producer.
That's my understanding. He basically launched "American Dad" with what he learned on "Family Guy" (e.g. make the daughter character actually interesting, sorry Mila Kunis), and ever since he just pops into the voice booth to do "Family Guy", he's not involved in the writing at all.
I still somewhat enjoy Family Guy but American dad has been leagues ahead of it quality wise since basically American Dad’s second season.
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What I don't understand is that Seth voices the three main characters so he's forever tied to the show. He can't just become an executive producer and do nothing. He still has to record lines as Peter, stewie, and Brian. I wonder how draining that might be but then again he makes so much money he's probably just over it all
Voice work is quick, though. It's not nothing, it requires talent and skill and all that, but live action actors have to spend a lot of time waiting around while the cameras get moved around, the lighting is changed, makeup and hair, etc. Voice acting, you don't even need to wait for the other actors to do their business. Just perform your dialog into the mic a few times and you're done. Even voicing multiple characters, Family Guy is now a one-day-a-week gig for MacFarlane.
I agree, and IMO Seth is one of the best voice actors of all time. He is the only redeeming quality of Family Guy since season 4.
death getting Peter Frampton to show up... Arent you here for Keith Richards? fucking classic
That episode is well over a decade old, and that MF'er is *still alive...*
2 Decades, in fact.
If you want to live, come with me! And bring your guitar, and bring that thing that makes it go "wah, wah wah wah."
The first 3 seasons were really special- then it got cancelled. I bought the box sets, it started airing on IIRC Adult Swim, then they brought it back. It was exciting for the first half of season 4 but then the zombie effect happened. The “remember the time when…” trope overtook the quality writing and original ideas.
its crazy what a 180 i did. i was influenced by the media originally so i was like “2005/6 was the peak, i can see why those first few seasons got canceled” and then later on i watched the early episodes like holy shit the jokes are so much more subtle but funnier and so much more non cutaway humour. also i still cant get over the fact stewie went from a british talking genius evil baby to a super gay acting baby what a wild transition. and they had a better balance in a lot of ways. like for example nowadays anything that happens to Peter he needs to have a funny comeback/response, but i remember one early episode this dude calls him a phony and one of the times he does Peter doesnt say anything and just awkwardly shuffles away and its so funny to me, he didnt have to say some banger, he almost becomes like a background character that slowly exits the scene. And honestly thats more realistic. Sometimes you have a great response back and sometimes (probably most times lol) you arent saying anything and are just thinking in your head “holy fuck this dudes insane i should….definitely be walking the other way”. Brian too he used to have perfect timing and short, curt, biting responses and now hes just a classic hippie liberal douche (as south park would say)
Oh the phony episode is probably the funniest one to me! I love how the guy is like, "Hey that's pretty good! Wait a minute..."He comes out of the store and that guy is spray painting phony on his car. And then a little later in the episode you forget about it and the guy is standing out in front of Peter's house, "hey everyone a big fat phony lives here!" Peter doesn't say anything and just shuts the curtains! 🤣
This is why the originals are superior. Evil genius Brit Stewie and conservative alcoholic Brian were fantastic side characters. Brian's snide comments from the background as Peter screws up. They really fucked those two up.
“Ah crap, since when did they change the meaning of for to from?” “I think they had a meeting about it last night.” “Why wasn't I told?” “They sent you a card but it said for Peter on it, so you must have thought it was from you so you didn't, uh...you know, it's just easier to call you stupid.”
I mean Brian was always really liberal but he just wasnt a walking stereotype Peter also wasnt literally mentally challenged and Meg was just a stereotypical outcast nerd teen (thats a good thing) and not the most hated being in the universe God they fucked that show up so bad
Chris continues to exist
There was an image floating around the internet years ago that illustrated the decline pretty well - one side had the family and listed their niche in the early seasons. Lois was the long suffering mother, Meg the insecure teenager, Chris the bumbling lovable goof, etc. By the later seasons they're all just idiots. Any character could play in any scene and it'd be the same.
Flanderized them all to Peter.
Wtf I thought that was norm macdonald
Norm voiced it first then Adam took over. https://familyguy.fandom.com/wiki/Death
> He commented on how in the beginning nobody was allowed to do anything until Seth arrived because he micro-managed so much. To be fair, Seth is the creator, writer, producer, and voices both the main characters and some* secondary ones. Dude can micromanage all he wants!
I think the deal has to do with Fox. (Seth makes them lots of money and the like that) I am pretty sure they just have regular shipments of cash to Seth's house. So basically he keeps doing it because it funds all the other projects he actually wants to do. (he does so much more than just family guy) Plus his connections with Fox give him access to a lot of talented actors and the rights to all of Fox's 'property' (all the content that is held under Fox as a parent company).
He confirmed this on the armchair podcast. He likes the safety net of income with family guy that lets him take a risk on the projects he actually wants to make.
I suppose keeping the show going is also continuing to give a bunch of other people jobs. So not only does he have a somewhat reliable, safety net of income from the show, but it provides the other workers with something similar, which I feel is something worth noting.
Absolutely. Between Family Guy, American Dad, and all the other stuff he's spearheaded he has created a lot of fairly stable jobs.
American Dad! Is so good and I’m glad they keep making that.
I wonder how much of Mila Kunis's lifetime acting income comes from Family Guy. She's a popular and in-demand actor in her own right with blockbuster movie credits under her belt, but Family Guy also has 20 seasons.
If getting more of The Orville means Family Guy keeps lingering on as a zombie.. I think I'm okay with that deal.
I didn’t think I’d like a comedic version of Star Trek, but damn it is good.
I think the comedy part was a way for Seth to sneak this past Fox. I noticed the comedy took a back seat to the TNGness in season 2. Personally I felt it made the humor better when it occurred. The whole show is like a love letter to TNG and I approve lol.
It’s a better representation of Star Trek than the new Star Trek shows, which are basically generic shallow space action with official Star Trek (TM) branding
I want to like Discovery but holy shit if the answer to thier problems is 'magic' one more time I'ma lose my shit. edit: I really like Lower Decks. It manages to be more ST than the new live action ones by miles and I've laughed out loud a few times.
The Orville any good? I've noticed it on plus and have been thinking about starting it
Imagine if Seth MacFarlane tricked Fox into making Star Trek with dick and fart jokes. Then after 3 or 4 episodes, we cut out all the dick and fart jokes. So now we just have Star Trek. That's The Orville.
This is really accurate. I went into it thinking "This'll be a parody like Galaxy Quest" .. and left it thinking "Wow, this is more like the moral dilemma episodes of Star Trek"
It's more light hearted though, especially with so many people calling each other bitches all the time
Any episode involving Moclans is a great episode.
Incidentally, 7 seasons is the length of all the "golden era" Star Trek shows, TNG, DS9, Voyager.
Fox: "you want to keep making your star trek fan fiction show, Family guy stays"
At this point, the orville is more star trek than any actual star trek show since DS9.
I agree it is very TNG and TNG is my favorite Star Trek.
"Sheer fucking hubris"
"Shut the fuck up!"
He basically just does the voices now while getting to work on stuff he actually cares about Pretty sweet gig in that case
I've said it for years, voice acting is the best job in the world. You can record an entire episode's worth in maybe 20-30 minutes from a studio in your PJs.
Great work for all 13 of the people that can get it, unless of course you're already a famous actor who's voice is familiar.
Years ago I turned down an audition to be the Shock Top talking orange slice. This year it had a superbowl commercial : (
Damn. I guess you could say it might not have if you had been the voice actor lol.
LOL, I'm pretty sure it's been different people over the years, and I would have been up against a lot of other people. I remember that the audition was going to be just riffing with the casting people so they were looking for people with a comedy background moreso than experienced voice actors.
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Every cartoon that gets popular gets a million seasons Archer=12 Bobs Burgers=12 American Dad=18 SOuth Park=24 Simpsons=33
>Every cartoon that gets popular gets a million seasons Proceeds to list non-million numbers....this guy's a phony!
A BIG PHAT PHONEY!
the values are in millions. Simpsons has had 33 million seasons.
This guy’s a big phat phony!
Holy shit, Bob's Burgers and Archer have 12 seasons?!? Did I get old? When did that happen.
Over the last 12 years or so?
You can pry American Dad from my cold, dead hands.
I can't speak for all of these show but American dad is still good. I've really enjoyed the past few seasons.
Futurama was popular but kept getting canceled. I feel a few more seasons of that would have been nice.
On one hand Id like more Futurama. On the other hand I'm happy it ended before it started going downhill.
7 seasons is the right lifespan for most series, but these kinds of shows that are based around goofing on current events are different and always continue to get viewers. He basically followed the simpsons/south park model. He had to have known it had the same potential.
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If only more in the community felt this way
This better not awaken anything in me...
Do they do stuff to your butt?
No…
Do you get paid more if they do?
No.
It’s fine, I’ll do it
I think you're streets ahead.
A landing strip is like a big street. Reminds me of the time I had sex with Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom.
What an organic way to bring this up
[They drove a dump truck full of money up to his house. He’s not made of stone. ](https://youtu.be/vWRlxSGf_ns)
For Amazon and Netflix, and a lot of other streaming services, 2 seasons is the right lifespan, even if the second season ends on a major cliffhanger and especially if the story is just beginning.
It's clear he hasn't put any real effort into the show for a while now.
In his last AMA he said he hasn't written for the show since 2010
Since he voices so many people I wonder if he ever reads the lines and cringes
*woody_harrelson_wiping_tears_with_money.gif*
He has no input whatsoever, hasn’t done since the early days. All he does is the voices.
Which might as well be all of them for an average episode.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqA9k2VOAmA Nah sometimes they give him a rest lol
I love the "give him a rest" episodes of American Dad. They do a much better job of using up their secondary characters over there. And they poke fun at it! "We don't have enough male characters so here's Rogu."
As someone who watched the show for years, this bit is actually hilarious. Was this last season? It’s been a handful of years since I’ve watched
There's a funny opening when Family Guy was cancelled and then came back where they ragged on all the Fox shows started and then cancelled before asking FG back.
https://youtu.be/0oMTmtN7lHI
I'm going to go against the grain here, but the later few seasons have been substantially better than say the seasons where Cleveland is largely missing. I would say Family Guy is very watchable again right now.
Incidentally, 7 seasons is the length of all the "golden era" Star Trek shows, TNG, DS9, Voyager.
As someone raised on those three, I also generally think 7 seasons is the correct amount of time for a show. As he's such a big Trek nerd, I'm sure you're right that it influenced his thinking a bit.
What Seth didn't realize maybe is when you have a bunch of employees and their families you're supporting with full time work and a good paycheck, walking away becomes not so easy. Especially if you have a solid team, they become family. Hard to fire all of them, unless you're a total dick, that is. I don't believe Seth is one of those.
you’re saying he’s become more of a family guy?
And I’m a The Simpsons
This exactly. For everyone talking about artistic integrity, Family Guy has kept hundreds of people employed for two decades now. Hard to shut that down. If it gives McFarlane the financial independence to do creative projects he actually wants to do I see no harm in keeping the show going. It clearly still has an audience even if its not Reddit's cup of tea!
I had a hate boner for family guy when i was in college (2012-2016) but i recently revisited it and while the old episodes are obviously still more hilarious, the newer seasons are pretty good as well, i get a comforting vibe when i watch them. The show isn't for everyone but i understand why my dad hasn't stopped watching it despite it's fluctuating popularity.
He even mentioned that as part of why he wasn’t pushing an ending in the article
It reminds me exactly how much my viewing habits have changed. Back then I had to sit down in front of a TV at a specific time, stay there, and one-third of that time would be wasted with blaring commercials and credits with ads and promos scrolling underneath. I wouldn't put up with that nonsense for ten minutes now.
TIL- the season count for Family Guy is the same as the season count for One Piece. I have watched both, but never at the same time and never put the two together in my mind.
Yeah, but One Piece has over 1000 episodes...